Eeek! Beware of the scary bloggers! That’s what Dellahaye is saying with the title of their …
… upcoming free seminar for PR folks – “Surviving Blogs: Monitoring and Analyzing Blogs to Protect and Direct Public Relations Strategy.” On the site, the copy reads…
“In this webinar, you will hear compelling examples of how companies have safeguarded their reputations and established strategies to manage these unfiltered channels of communication.”
This is typical FUD and it’s just trying to sell Dellahaye’s monitoring capabilities. What about the opportunity for companies to be transparent and launch blogs to become part of the conversation? The leaders of this webinar don’t even blog themselves.
I have always said the PR community can either view blogs as a threat or an opportunity. This is obviously falling into the former. What a shame. Blogs aren’t something you manage. It’s a conversation – something you listen to and partake in.
Do you try to “manage” a conversation in the offline world? I am sure you don’t. So neither should you try to do so online. Dellahaye doesn’t appear to get it.
Reader Comment …
Alex Barnett wrote this:
Hey Steve, I agree and disagree.
Surely all Dellahaye is doing is the snesible thing – to target the majority of PR pros who might be described as tech laggards?
Consider the following 2 headlines. Which do you think would be most clicked headline on a PR media site (if they visited one)?
- Blogs can cause huge headaches for PR strategies… to find out how to avoid your company going through the blogmare.
- Blogs are great for engaging with your customers… to find out how you can be part of the conversation.
Steve Rubel is a PR strategist with nearly 16 years of public relations, marketing, journalism and communications experience. He currently serves as a Senior Vice President with Edelman, the largest independent global PR firm.
He authors the Micro Persuasion weblog, which tracks how blogs and participatory journalism are changing the public relations practice.
